Adelaide International: Djokovic beats Shapovalov, sets Medvedev showdown
Jan 06, 2023
Adelaide [Australia], January 6 : Top seed Novak Djokovic battled past Canada's Denis Shapovalov on Friday at the Adelaide International 1, where the top-seeded Serbian pulled away to a quarter-final victory at the ATP 250 event.
The top-seeded Serbian pulled a 6-3, 6-4 victory against Shapovalov to set a blockbuster clash against former world number one Daniil Medvedev.
A raucous Adelaide crowd was treated to some ferocious baseline exchanges as Shapovalov went toe-to-toe with Djokovic in an entertaining one-hour, 55-minute match.
The Serbian, on the other hand, was more clinical at key moments, and three breaks of serve across the two sets were enough for him to complete his 21st tour-level victory and set up a blockbuster semi-final clash with third seed Daniil Medvedev in South Australia.
"I actually think that the scoreline maybe doesn't speak enough today about the matchup. It was very close. One break of serve in the first set, which went very long in terms of time. He had break points, he had chances," said Djokovic in his post-match press conference.
"Early on he was a better player. He was dictating. Then, you know, I started finding my serve and my groove on the court... I just made him play. Just made him play. I felt maybe he's a bit nervous. That's what happens, the change of momentum happens very quickly on this level," he added.
In an exciting first set, Serbian faced three break points as the Canadian's big groundstrokes kept him under pressure. Shapovalov, on the other hand, was left to rue not converting those chances, as the top-seeded Serbian made no mistake with his own break point to move 5-3 ahead before serving out the set.
"Hopefully [it will be] another long night. I don't think there's going to be too many short points tomorrow unless we both serve well. Normally when you play Daniil, you have to be ready to go the distance, physically, mentally, game-wise," said Djokovic of his clash with Medvedev.
"He's definitely one of the best players in the world for the past five years. He's established himself as a Grand Slam winner and a No. 1 in the world, so he's someone I respect a lot. We had some amazing battles over the years and I'm hoping for another good battle tomorrow," he further added.
